Why Customer Service has Been Central for Center Parcs During Covid-19

Center Parcs will be a familiar name to most people in the UK, but its European sites are owned and operated by a different company, Pierre et Vacances Center Parcs (PVCP).

From their contact centre in London, Comdata has provided customer service support to Center Parcs’ locations in France, The Netherlands, and Belgium since 2009.

They handle all communication with PVCP’s customers up to the point when they arrive on site for their holiday. This includes inbound sales and services; voice reservations, modifications, and cancellations; as well as answering customer queries ranging from car parking information to food options.

The team of multi-lingual customer care advisers handle enquiries and sales support in English, French, German, and Dutch, with their interactive voice response (IVR) system directing customers to the right advisers, making the experience as seamless as possible for them. They also provide inbound web chat and outbound click-to-chat services.

They manage a pre-agreed volume of calls based on forecasts alongside PVCP’s in-house team, which is based near one of its sites in Peer, Belgium. We operate to a range of KPIs, including quality assurance and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scoring, along with sales numbers, conversion rates, as well as upselling and cross-selling targets.

Like the majority of hospitality and travel businesses, Center Parcs has faced unprecedented challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. This required Comdata to support the company with a significant increase to back-office activities related to lockdowns and site closures, which saw us quickly hire and train new staff, as well as develop an outbound dialler and data management system for customer contact.

Key Achievements:

• Provided a core team of 80 dedicated advisers throughout 2020
• Delivered call quality consistently ahead of, or in line with, the in-house team in each language
• Quick recruitment and training of 15 additional full-time equivalent team members to handle Covid-19 crisis response
• Delivered technology solutions to quickly support customers with booking amendments and holiday cancellations

Brooke Cathcart, Client Services and Development Director at Comdata, said: “We have worked with PVCP for more than a decade, supporting its delivery of excellent customer service.

Understandably, customers want the experience of booking a holiday and interacting with the brand to be as simple and straightforward as possible, giving them peace of mind that they will be well looked after when they arrive on site.

But, at the same time, one of our most important aims is to upsell or cross-sell relevant additional products, which we do successfully on behalf of the brand.

“Covid-19 has provided some unique challenges and we have worked diligently to support PVCP and its customers throughout the pandemic.

Changing guidance and local lockdowns in different regions and countries forced the closure of sites and holidaymakers have had to be made aware at short notice of changes to their bookings. We have quickly and flexibly trained new advisers to meet PVCP’s requirements and developed technology solutions to make processes more efficient.”